Knowledge Base

How to use Intel Rapid Start Technology to improve system startup from hibernation.

Table of Contents:

Intel® Rapid Start Technology (IRST) is a feature that improves system startup by enabling a system to quickly resume from a deep sleep in about 6 seconds, providing users a smarter Off/On experience compared to a full system startup and shutdown, with better power saving and faster resume time than traditional Windows® sleep or hibernate.

Getting Started

You need to have a solid-state drive (SSD) with at least as much disk space available as random-access memory (RAM) installed
in the system (e.g. if you have 8 GB of RAM then you need 8 GB of unused space on the SSD).

You need the most up-to-date version of the Intel Rapid Start Technology driver for your system from Dell.com/Support under Drivers and Downloads in the Serial ATA category, or alternatively from the
Intel Download Center by searching for Intel Rapid Start
Technology.

Installation Guide

Start the Disk Management utility by searching for diskmgmt in the Windows 7 Start Menu or Windows 8 Start
Screen then clicking or tapping on diskmgmt.msc.

Identify the disk that is your SSD, right-click or press-and-hold on the largest partition (likely the OS or C: drive)
or the partition that has enough free space for you to use as the hibernation partition, then left-click or tap on Shrink Volume…

Enter the amount you want to shrink for the hibernation partition (e.g. 8196 MB for 8 GB).

Remember, you need equal or larger disk space for the hibernation partition as the amount of RAM you have installed. Windows
defines 1 GB as 1024 MB.

Once you have unallocated space made available, we need to launch DiskPart to create the hibernation partition. Search
for DiskPart on the Windows 7 Start Menu or Windows 8 Start Screen, then right-click or press-and-hold
to Run as administrator.

Restart the system and access the BIOS by pressing F2 during startup, expand the Performance category and choose Rapid Start Technology in the list, and ensure the options are selected (checked)
to turn Rapid Start on.

Please refer to the Owner’s Manual for your system model on Dell.com/Support to determine which options need to be changed to enable Rapid Start Technology.

Install the Intel Rapid Start Technology driver for your system from Dell.com/Support under Drivers and Downloads in the Serial ATA category, or alternatively from the Intel Download Center by searching for Intel Rapid Start Technology.

Launch the Intel Rapid Start Technology program to ensure it is turned on and working.